Welcome to the official web site of the Toronto Local
of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. We are the Toronto
Local representative of
CUPW, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.

We hope this site will become a place where our members can
keep up to date on the latest news and events involving the
Toronto Local CUPW.

For our members there is a News/Bulletin
section to keep you informed of latest news, and a
Secretary-Treasurer's Report section that will keep you
informed of important meeting schedules and events, including
matters concerning your union and other services and
information available to you. If you have any questions or
general inquiries, feel free to Contact
Us and one of our officers will be more than happy to
assist you.

ANY PAGE YOU ARE ON,
IF YOU CLICK THE CUPW
LOGO IT BRINGS YOU TO HOME PAGE

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CROWN CAN WORKERS

The Facts

• 120 Toronto workers,
members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 9176 were
forced on strike by Crown Holdings, Inc. on September 6,
2013

• Crown’s Toronto facility
has been unionized for over 25 years and many of the
workers have worked for Crown for over two decades

• The company consolidated
labour relations at its US headquarters and has little
knowledge of the unique nature and issues of the Toronto
facility

• Crown is one of the
world’s largest manufacturers of food and beverage cans

• It claims to make one
out of every five beverage cans in the world, and one
out of every three food cans in North America

• Crown operates
approximately 140 plants in 40 countries; about 12,000
of its 21,300 employees worldwide are covered by a
collective agreement

• Crown nearly doubled its
profits in 2012, to $557 million from $282 million in
2011

• Crown’s CEO was paid an
average of $13 million/year in the past five years

• The Toronto facility is
one of Crown’s top producers in North America and
received the 2012 “Plant of the Year Award” for
outstanding “safety, productivity and budget management”

• The facility produces
over 5 million beverage and food cans per day for
customers such as Molson, Coors, Labatt, Budweiser,
Moosehead, Creemore, Morgan’s and Cotts

CROWN
and CORPORATE CANADA﻿The strike at Crown Holdings plant in
Weston illustrates all that is wrong with

corporate
Canada - greed, callousness and income inequality. For two
long winters the 120 Steelworkers have walked the picket line
in stubborn refusal to betray the next generation of workers.
Despite being recognized as the most productive plant of
Crown's 140 facilities, the company has rewarded the Toronto
employees with a demand that all new hires be paid half of the
current salary.

The workers said no, and were forced on strike to defend their
principled position. As the months dragged on the company
brought in strike-breakers to run the plant and supply the
beer and soft drink producers in Ontario. Each time bargaining
resumes the company makes its offer worse. Throughout this
whole disgraceful episode, the Ontario Government has refused
to intervene. The Premier and Labour Minister have been
shamefully silent. It's time to ramp up solidarity for the
Crown Strike. www.bottlesnotcans.ca

Credited to T&YLC.
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Attention: Correction
to Save Canada Post Bulletin # 3

Please note that the
bulletin # 3 with the information regarding the March canvass
did not have the information for the date of the canvass.

Date: March 28 2015

Meeting place: Spot 1

289 Rutherford Rd. S.

Brampton

Time 9:30 a.m.

We would like to see
many volunteers at this canvassing event in order for it to be
successful. The federal election could be called as early as
April and we need to inform the residents of the effects from
the elimination of the services and to contact their
conservative MP’s. These ridings we are targeting were won in
2011 with less than 10%, let’s try and flip the vote and oust
the conservatives in the upcoming election. Canada needs
change and the time is now, if we work together this is
possible.

In Solidarity

Angela Jones

_______________________________________________________

Save Canada Post
Bulletin # 3

Greetings Sisters and
Brothers,
March 2 2015

On February 28 CUPW
Toronto Local held a canvassing event in Mississauga South,
Stella Ambler’s riding. With approximately 35 volunteers we
were able to deliver information kits to approx. 3500 homes.
Many thanks go out to all that participated, especially the
carriers that have walked daily in the extreme cold all winter
long. The Mississauga news came to talk to myself and Local
President Megan Whitfield and wrote a great article on our
behalf, including the effects of the cuts imposed on the
public by Canada Post.

The next canvassing
event will be held in Brampton in Kyle Seeback and Bal Gosal’s
ridings, Brampton West and Brampton/Bramalea.

Meeting Place: Spot 1

289 Rutherford Rd. S. (North
of Steeles and south of Clarence)

Brampton

Time: 9:30 a.m.

Once again we are
asking for volunteers to come out and participate. We
understand the difficulty of juggling work and personal life
around these events but I cannot stress enough the importance
of getting out and helping, if just for an hour or two. The
federal election could be called as early as 30 days from now!
Not only are we informing the public on the cuts, we are also
trying to swing the vote in these areas by letting the public
know it is the conservative’s that have not backed them with
trying to keep the services the Corporation is trying to take
away from them.

It has been a brutal
winter and most of you have had to walk in the cold day in and
day out, hopefully March will be kinder and grant us a mild
temp day for canvassing. Please pass on this information and
try to get others to come out and help. The time for change is
now; let’s work together in making this a successful campaign
and kicking the conservative’s out in the Federal election.

purposes it probably won't take place until October, it would
be prudent
for all members of C.U.P.W to continue and give life to this
discussion. Unfortunately Canadians, looking back at the
Mulroney days, have very poor memories. They gave Mulroney a
second majority government. It was an absolute disaster for
postal workers and unions as a whole. I said in my previous
bulletin that we could make a difference. If one
postal worker in Toronto was to win over five of their friends
to vote against Harper with the amount of workers we have,
that would be
40,000 votes. This is not a ridiculous statement; this is
about YOUR job!
Recently we had two activists go in to a station and they were
chastised
by members saying, "What is the Union doing"!

YOU ARE THE UNION! Together we must understand that unless we
are going to be proactive the Harper government has that much
more chance of becoming successful.
If you do not heed these simple facts, you could lose your
benefits, the strength of your pension and your very job
itself. So stop criticizing a
hand full of union activists and start fighting the real enemy
Stephen Harper. Together we can make a difference. By not
being together we play in to this governments hand. If we look
up the meaning of
hypocrisy, the dictionary will give us one or two meanings,
however, in
Canada the true meaning of hypocrisy would be this majority
government in a democratic setting. If this isn't hypocrisy I
do not know
what is. Work together Sisters and Brothers, not apart. When
it comes time to vote, make sure you do! Or you will surely
suffer the consequences.

In Solidarity,

John Slattery,

Benefits Officer CUPW
Toronto Local

Pre-Election
preparedness bulletin

Dear Sisters and
Brothers,
Feb 9, 2015

2015 will be a very
busy year for CUPW members. Not only are we fighting to
maintain our services and cuts the Corporation has enforced on
us, we are also working hard to beat the Conservatives in the
federal election this coming October, if not before. It is
imperative that we all get out and vote and encourage family
and friends to do the same, more importantly, to vote ANYTHING
BUT CONSERVATIVE!

Listed below are
reasons why not to vote for the Conservatives. Not only are
they a bad choice for Union workers, they are a bad choice for
ALL Canadians.

Economy- Conservatives
have maintained economic growth?? 80% of all new jobs created
have been part-time. No pension and no benefits.

Healthcare- Funding
cuts to all provinces which has put pressure on a healthcare
system with an aging population.

Retirement- Seniors
are living without adequate pension coverage. Retirement age
has increased to 67.

Families-
Conservatives have scrapped the national childcare program.
Income-splitting scheme benefits only the wealthiest families.

Public services-
Veterans affairs staff and offices have been slashed, major
delays for EI payments due to staff cuts and the elimination
of home mail delivery.

Environment- Canada is
the only country to withdraw from Kyoto, no action on climate
change, with Canada having the worst greenhouse emissions in
the world. Also, Harper wants to expand the tar sands without
studying the impact on our watersheds and First Nations land.

Overall, the
Conservative party will be a bad choice for ALL Canadians!!!

Based on the past
record of the conservatives, we need to work together to
defeat them. We need to fight to keep our jobs, jobs for
future generations, to keep our pensions, to protect our
environment, to look after our seniors and veterans, to
improve our healthcare and childcare systems and to have a
transparent Govt that works for Canadians and their families.
Let’s face it, if we don’t defeat the Harper govt we may as
well kiss this all goodbye. The damage he has already imposed
on us can be stopped, it’s time for change and the time is
now. Get out and vote and make it count.

I’d like to extend an
invitation from The CLC and The Toronto Local in regards to
their upcoming election skills conferences and work-shops
being held across Canada.

With the upcoming
election, a pivotal one for all postal workers, postal
services and the labour movement, the conference and one day
sessions will give us the opportunity to stand in solidarity
with sisters/brothers and activists in the labour movement in
defeating the Conservative Govt.

The conference will be
held on February 6 & 7 in Toronto and is open to all members
and the registration is free. To sign up, please contact The
CLC at their regional office at the following link.

This conference, as
well as work-shops, will give you the necessary tools needed
to build political support in the communities, skills to talk
to people in the work place, on door-steps (canvassing) with
our own Save Canada Post campaign and in helping defeat the
Conservative party.

The CLC and other affiliated Union groups
have shown their support with the Save Canada Post campaign
and attending the conference will unite our efforts in the
struggles we all face. An injury to one is an injury to all!
NOT just to CUPW members but to all labourers and activists!

In addition to the conference and
work-shops, the Toronto and Scarborough local will have a
table set up with materials and leaflets on the Save Canada
Post campaign. This is a great way to further build alliances
in our own struggles and to educate on how to do so.

It is time to stand up with our sisters and
brothers in their struggles as they have done and continue to
do so with ours.

I look forward to seeing you at the
conference as representatives, allies and activists on behalf
of CUPW Toronto Local.

In Solidarity

Angela Jones

Campaign Coordinator

Save Canada Post bulletin
# 2 Jan. 5 ‘15

Happy New Year Sisters and Brothers

I hope that all of you had a great
holiday and wish you all the best for 2015. As you are all
aware we are entering a crucial year, not only are we fighting
to preserve our services but we are also fighting to maintain
the services for the public and our jobs due to the cuts being
implemented from the Corporation.

On January 24 2015 we will be having a
day of canvassing in the Etobicoke/Lakeshore and Etobicoke
Centre ridings of Ted Opitz and Bernard Trottier. These are 2
conservative MP’s we are targeting that won the federal
election in 2011 with less than 10% of the votes. It is
imperative to have as many volunteers as possible out to help
with canvassing.

As a letter carrier in the Port Credit
area I understand that the weather at this time of the year
can be unfavorable but can’t stress enough the importance with
getting out and informing the public of the cuts being imposed
on them and to us as CUPW members. Now is the time to be
getting the support from the public and educating them that
the conservative MP’s in these ridings DO NOT support their
best interests and do not deserve their votes when the
election happens.

All members that wish to sign up to be
volunteers are encouraged to contact myself or their shop
stewards, we will be meeting at the Toronto Local at 47
Densley Ave. At 9:30 a.m. on January 24 and will have a light
lunch and debriefing after the canvassing finishes. There will
also be 2 more days of canvassing happening on February 28
2015 in the Mississauga South/Port Credit area and on March 28
2015 in the Brampton area. We will also be needing volunteers
for these days and once again I encourage all that can help to
contact myself or a shop steward of doing this.

I understand that life is busy with work
and family obligations but helping out for a few hours on
these days could make a huge difference with stopping the cuts
and helping to stop the conservatives from being elected
again, this could be detrimental to all of us and our future
as unionized workers. The time to stand up and fight is now
without doing this we are allowing the Corporation to make
these changes without putting up a fight on our behalf and on
behalf of the communities that we provide service to as well
as the sisters and brothers that have already been affected
across the country. An injury to one is an injury to all! I
look forward to working with all of you in the fight against
the Corporation and the Conservatives.

In Solidarity

Angela Jones

Campaign Coordinator Toronto Local

______________________________________________________

IT’S TIME TO START THINKING

WHO
ARE YOU GOING TO VOTE FOR?

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

As the 4th Vice-President of the
Toronto Local, I cannot tell you how to vote. What I can
tell you is that it is vital that you actually go out and cast
your ballot.

The current PC government is not
your friend. It is not a friend to the Postal Worker,
the average worker on the street, nor is it a friend of any
Union.

The current trend seems to
indicate that the federal election may be as early as this
spring. This is why I am urging you to consider your
options now. Consider the effects the current government
has on your every-day work life and your personal life at
home.

The voting turn out for
elections is as low as 7%. Just think what an impact we
as Postal Workers can have in fashioning a new government.
Our Local alone has 8,500 members. If we all voted we
could actually make a difference!

In solidarity,

JOHN SLATTERY

4th Vice-President

(Organization Officer)

C.U.P.W. Toronto Local

NOV. 20/14

IMPORTANT UPDATE

Union
Dues

If you work in the “Toronto Local” area
you should be paying $ 77.40 in Union Dues each month. If you
believe you are a member of the Toronto Local and you are not
sure compare your pay stub with your co-workers. If you are
paying more, then contact your Shop Steward or call the Union
Hall.

Dues
Waiver

The National Constitution allows for the
waiver of dues when you are off work if approved as per
Article 1.19. You must be a signed up member in order to be
eligible. Also, membership is a condition of employment
(4.07 of the Collective Agreement) upon becoming a member a
waiver is not retroactive.

Address Change

Once again we are getting a lot of
“return to sender” mail. When you change your address it is
your responsibility to inform the Union Hall of that change.
By changing your address at work, we do not get that
information. It is important that the Union has your current
address even if you are retired to ensure that if there is a
settlement of any Grievances, we have a means of contacting
you.

Trusting the above information is
helpful, I remain.

In Solidarity

Doug Jones

Secretary-Treasurer
November 30, 2014

Canada Post is a Public
Service

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

On December the 11th,2013 Canada Post announced the
elimination of door to door delivery in urban areas by 2019.
The announcement came a day after Parliament adjourned for the
Christmas Break. Your National Union received a telephone call
from CPC at around 7:00 a.m. giving your Union a “heads up”
but did not receive the actual package on the five point plan
until 10:30 a.m.

Earlier this year Canada Post held selected Town Hall meetings
across Canada after the Conference Board of Canada released a
report called the “Future of Postal Service in Canada.” The
main objective of this report was to cut services NOT create
and add services.

The Canadian Postal Service Charter mandates Canada Post to
provide a universal accessible mail delivery system.
CPC’s competition is not even discussing eliminating door to
door delivery. They are looking at ways to improve their
business and working with their customers. CPC in the meantime
has closed corporate retail stores while the competition has
opened up new store fronts.

Canada Post claims to be losing millions of dollars but at the
same time are doing a multitude of renovations to the Gateway
Plant and across Canada for the expansion of MLOCR. This
machine will only handle letter mail which is a service CPC
insists has and will continue to drop in volume.

Instead of investing in the areas where there is growth
for CPC re: parcels, pubs and ads, working with small
businesses; CPC’s answer is to eliminate services to Canadian
Citizens instead of expanding and looking at a business plan
for the future that provides and maintains the existing door
to door delivery.

In the midst of the busiest time of the year Postal Workers
are once again asked to do more with less, in spite of this
volume records for parcels have been broken not once but twice
so far this year.

Postal Workers are left to wonder how big this year’s bonuses
will be for management. Will it be as big as 2012 or
better? Just think if the five point plan is implemented how
big the bonuses will be while seniors, disabled and all
citizens of Canada worry about how they are going to pick up
their mail.

Members, their families and friends should contact their
Member of Parliament and voice their desire to continue to
provide a long tradition of providing good and dependable
public services for the citizens of Canada.

In Solidarity,

Joanne Leader

2nd Vice President, Toronto Local

Canadian Union of Postal Workers

December 13, 2013

ARTICLE 47.11
RESTRUCTURING

&

ARTICLE 48.04 –

MEAL ON ROUTE, GROUP 2

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

Two
grievances were filed for the letter carrier restructures that
were implemented at Toronto Station “T” on May 14, 2012 and
the other station was for Weston “B”.

The issue
for these grievances being filed was that the route
measurement officers for Canada Post & local management for
Canada Post did not provide a meal location for motorized
letter carriers on route.

Arbitrator
Von Veh allowed the grievances and following is some of the
highlights from his decision:

a)The Corporation
ignored communications from the Union dated November 21, 2011
and December 21, 2011 requesting assistance in location
suitable meal locations for routes located in Toronto station
“T”.

b)The Corporation
ignored communications from employees dated May 14 and May 16,
2012 requesting suitable meal locations for routes located in
Toronto Station “T”.

c)No steps were
taken by the Corporation to in any way assist employees in
locating locations for suitable meal breaks, bearing in mind
criteria for meal locations set forth in Article 48.04 (a).

ORDER:

·The
Corporation and Union are ordered to assign an equal number of
representatives to a committee to review each restructured
route within Toronto Station “T” and a view to determine
whether for each route there exists a suitable meal location.
Such suitable meal location must comply with the criteria for
meal locations set out in Article 48.04 (a) and the three (3)
minute travel time allowance set out in Article 48.04 (f).
Such determinations are to be completed on or before January
31, 2014.

·Should the
parties not identify a suitable meal location for any of the
restructured routes within Toronto Station “T’, then, such
routes shall be adjusted to permit employees on such routes to
return to the postal installation in order to have his/her
meal. The adjustment of such routes shall be finalized
on or before February 28, 2014.

·The Parties
are directed to determine what, if any, compensation is owed
to any employees in Toronto Station “T” by virtue of the
provisions of Article 48.04 (b). Such determination
shall be completed on or before February 28, 2014.

·I remain
seized of any outstanding issues pertaining to these
grievances.

·The terms
of this Order apply to all restructured routes at Weston
Station “B”.

Trusting
you will find the above informative, we remain,

In
Solidarity,

Joanne
Leader,
Stacey Mills,

2ND
Vice-President,
3rd Vice-President,

CUPW
Toronto Local.
CUPW Toronto Local.

JL,SM:w

Pension Update

Sisters and Brothers:

Everyone is concerned about the state of our pension plan, and
we want you to be aware of everything that has happened for
the Corporation to get relief from the money they owe to the
pension plan that would be sustainable.

The Conservative Government has informed Canada Post of its
intent to introduce regulations that would provide relief from
the need to make special payments in the Canada Post pension
plan. This relief would be for 4 years from 2014 to
2017. This according to the Conservative Government would
provide a period of time for the Corporation to transform
their business plan and our pension plan.

It is disappointing that the bonuses were not cut off for
management as that would have been millions a year in savings.
But without this pension relief Canada Post would have had to
have made special payments of 1Billion dollars in 2014 which
they can't afford.

Since 2011 Canada Post has utilized the solvency relief
measures available to all Agent Crown Corporations under the
Pension Benefits Standards Act 1985 to reduce solvency
payments.

Over the next 4 years many things could change and interest
rates and investments could skyrocket. There could be a
new Government after 2015 and the circumstances of our pension
could change again. Services could change where we could
be successful in same day delivery parcels, banking and any
other services that would add revenue to the Corporation.
The Union has been arguing this for years.

The Corporation’s argument is always negative saying that
interest rates could stay low, and the fact that people are
living longer benefits would have to be paid out for a longer
period of time. They say this with no qualms of taking 2
bonuses a year amounting to millions.

Having said all this it is our intention to watch closely how
the plan is doing over the next 4 years, talking to actuaries
and informing the membership on a regular basis how the
pension plan is doing. In the meantime normal pension
contributions from Canada Post and from Plan Members will
continue to be made during this relief period. There
will be no change at this time in the benefits and pension
payout.

In Solidarity,

John Slattery
Darryl Ellis

4th Vice-President, Benefits
Officer President, Toronto Local, CUPW

Toronto Local, CUPW

________________________________________________________________

SUN LIFE
PACKAGES

&

RECORD OF
EMPLOYMENT (R.O.E.’S)

Dear
Sisters and Brothers:

I realize all the frustration
that members are going through attempting to get their Record
of Employment, Sun Life Packages and general information
pertaining to Disability.

I have forwarded my complaints
to Sister Cathy Kavadas, Regional Grievance Officer, who in
turn, is forwarding my issues to National.

I am outraged how our members
are being treated in particular, getting access to Sun Life
packages and E.I. sick benefits.

I assure you that I am dealing
with this and hopefully we will have some answers on these
issues within the next two weeks. Please watch the bulletin
boards for further updates.

In Solidarity,

John Slattery,

4th Vice-President,

CUPW Toronto Local.

JAN 15,2013

Flawed, Failed, Abandoned

Billions in Public Taxes Risked by P3 Hospital Privatization: 100
Failed, Flawed and Abandoned Projects Used to Warn Politicians: A
new report, released today by health coalitions across Canada,
outlines 100 failed, flawed or abandoned infrastructure projects
undertaken using the controversial P3 privatization model.